This application claims the priority of German Application No. 100 37 830.7 filed Aug. 3, 2000 and International Application No. PCT/EP01/08874 filed Aug. 1, 2001, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a switch arrangement for setting positional parameters of a vehicle seat.
German Reference DE 28 36 004 C2 discloses an arrangement for adjusting a motor-vehicle seat, in which an actuating arrangement having two levers imitates the lateral profile of the motor-vehicle seat. One of the levers is designed for the backrest and is pivotable about an axis in order to adjust the inclination of the backrest, and the other actuating lever has a number of actuating options for adjusting the seat surface in accordance with the setting options thereof. German Reference DE 39 33 561 C1 discloses a control device for controlling servomotors for adjusting a motor-vehicle seat, in which the lateral profile of the motor-vehicle seat is again prescribed as a frame and within this frame a number of actuating elements are arranged at positions in the imitated frame. These positions correspond to the adjustable parts of the motor-vehicle seat, and can be actuated in a meaningful analogy to the adjustment options of the individual parts of the seat.
The object of the present invention is to specify an improved switch arrangement for setting a motor-vehicle seat.
According to the invention, two advantageous approaches for achieving the object which has been set are provided, these approaches preferably being realized together.
A first measure according to the invention makes provision for the mutual position and/or actuating direction of the plurality of control elements. These control elements are in each case assigned a different adjusting function of the vehicle seat, to imitate qualitatively, i.e. without taking over the seat geometry in a manner true to scale, the relative position and/or adjusting direction of those parts of the vehicle seat which are affected by the respective adjusting function, when looking at the vehicle seat from the front, horizontally or obliquely from above.
According to the invention seat parts are designed or arranged at least approximately symmetrically with respect to a central plane of the seat, when looking at the vehicle seat from the front. The associated control elements are designed or arranged in a manner which is symmetrical with regard to a central plane through the control panel. The switch arrangement therefore takes into consideration the geometrical division of the vehicle seat transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
It has surprisingly turned out that a spatial, three-dimensional arrangement of this type, which is different from the imitating of the side profile of the seat according to the prior art, enables an intuitively more convenient and more reliable control of the given adjusting functions of a motor-vehicle seat. The control of these functions therefore also requires less attentiveness and fewer distractions for the driver from events on the road.
The control panel with the plurality of control elements is advantageously orientated in a manner such that it faces forward in the direction of travel, so that the driver, with his forearm directed forward in a relaxed manner, can easily place his hand on the control panel and can actuate the control elements with his fingers. A convexly curved design of the control panel or the encasing surface of the group of control elements by a contour which is curved convexly towards the control side of the control panel is particularly advantageous and accommodates the relaxed posture. Fitting the switch arrangement on a forwardly directed section of the seat, for example in a front edge region of the seat cushion or, in particular, at a forwardly facing end of an arm support, is particularly favourable.
According to another advantageous approach, the plurality of control elements of the control panel are arranged on a support body which, for its part, can be displaced in at least one direction and during this displacement causes the entire vehicle seat to be adjusted in an adjusting direction which is assigned in a spatially obvious manner. An additional actuating option of this type is used, in a particularly advantageous manner, for the intuitive actuation of the switch arrangement and, in a particularly preferred manner, for the displacement of the entire seat in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and/or for the adjustment of the seat height and/or the adjustment of the inclination of the backrest.